Besides the usual house Mouse, there is the wood Mouse, which forms
a magazine of grain and nuts underground for winter store; and the
harvest Mouse, which builds a little round nest between the stalks of
corn. The Squirrel is also of this order. This pretty little creature
lives in the trees, chiefly feeding upon nuts; can leap well, and run
up the branches of trees with surprising agility. The Flying Squirrel
has a broad expansion of skin between the fore and hind legs on each
side, so that when stretched out, they form a sort of parachute; this
enables the creature to leap to a great distance from tree to tree, and
supports it in the air as it goes. The Porcupine (Hystrix cristata), so
celebrated for its quills, which supply a sort of defensive armour, is
of this order.
* * * * *
[Illustration: FIG. 62. ANTEATER (Myrmecophaga jubata).]
4. The EDENTATA, or Anteaters, have no teeth, but a peculiarly
shaped tongue, which is covered with viscid mucus, and which they
project and retract with great rapidity, causing the Ants and Termites,
on which they feed, to adhere to it, and be carried into their
mouths. The Great Anteater (Myrmecophaga jubata, fig. 62) is a very
extraordinary animal in appearance; it has an enormously prolonged
nose, and the back is covered with a sort of mane; the tail, also, is
of prodigious size, and very bushy; when this curious animal lies down
to sleep, the long snout is thrust under it, and the tail laid across
the back, the end of the snout projecting behind. In this position, it
would lead anyone to suppose that the head was where the tail really
is, and that when looking at the creature's hinder part, they were
looking at its head; and the sudden reversal of the position of these
parts, when it gets up quickly, is certainly extremely ridiculous.
* * * * *
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